2.10.2009

Lemon-Pepper "Chicken" Titties!

You may remember me mentioning somewhere online recently that I was going to be a guest on Meat Free Radio. Well, the show is out today and they have a new segment where everyone says what they had for dinner. Since I had mentioned this new recipe on the show, I figured it was only fair to put it up immediately.

These little seitan "breasts", or "titties" ;), are tender and moist. I can't believe how great they came out and how strikingly similar they were to actual chickens' breasts. It was almost scary eating it ;)

Lemon-Pepper Chicken

For the seitan:

1 cup vital wheat glutenwater

I like a really tender seitan, which is why I do not measure the water. I put the wheat gluten into a bowl and just cover it with water. You really can't add too much water, because it will all just drain out anyway. The trick is to massage the gluten gently with your finger tips until it has soaked up as much water as possible. I actually outlined the basic procedure in this video.

Once the gluten has soaked up as much water as possible, just scoop it all out and squeeze out as much water as possible. Break the seitan up into 6 equal pieces and just form them in your hands into mini "breasts". They will expand a lot when they cook, so you can do them a little on the small side. Place the little "breasts" into a pot of boiling water, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes. You can add some tamari to the water for some extra flavor.

After they are cooked, remove them from the water and let them cool. Once cooled, squeeze out as much water as possible from each seitan "breast".

Mix together the soymilk and lemon juice to make a "buttermilk". Take each individual piece of seitan and dip it into the "buttermilk" and then dredge it in the flour. Heat up a saucepan with a tablespoon of earth balance over medium-high heat and fry 3 "breasts" at a time for about 3-5 minutes on each side, or until slightly browned on each side. Once all the "breasts" are cooked, set them aside and we can being making the sauce.

In the same pan we fried the setian in, add all of the above ingredients and cook on med-low heat until the sauce has thickened, which will be about 5 minutes. Then, put the breaded seitan "breasts" into the pan, making sure they get coated completely with the sauce. Put heat on low and cover. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.

As you can see, I served mine over collard greens and a side of polenta. I think these would also work well as a "chicken" parm, which I am experimenting with and I'll post it as soon as it's ready. Although this recipe seems for complicated than my usual recipes, it's really not. A thought I had while making it was that you could make a bunch of the breaded seitan "breasts" and freeze them for anytime! I also have a new seitan BBQ ribs recipe I need to put up, so stay tuned for that!